Giveaway: A week’s worth of Hannaford Fresh Meals in Minutes

It’s 7 o’clock and you’re just finishing up with work. You’re hungry, and tired. Ordering fat and sodium-laden takeout would be so easy, but the guilt (and heartburn) that inevitably goes with that choice isn’t worth it.

Now you can have an instant meal that’s also good for you thanks to Hannaford’s Fresh Meals in Minutes and today we are giving away a week’s worth of these meals.

The aim of the line is to counteract the prevailing wisdom that only processed food is fast, affordable and accessible. These nutrient-rich meals are designed to be prepared in less than 15 minutes and can feed three people for as little as $10. They have numerous options for mixing and matching proteins, vegetables and starches.

Since this giveaway is about (affordable) eating, lets share tips on making fast, fresh meals on a budget. What is your single best suggestion for preparing a healthy, low-cost meal for you and your family?

Now for the fine print-style rules:

If you failed to pick up a prize, you are ineligible for one-year from date of the giveaway you won.

If you won in the last 90 days, you are ineligible to win.

Everyone can only answer once. Answering more than once will mean both answers are disqualified.

The winner is chosen at random and all applicable answers stand an equal chance.

If you don’t answer the question, you aren’t eligible to win (a lot of you ended up in this boat in the past).

The contest closes at 1 p.m.

Make sure your correct e-mail is included in the box that says “e-mail” when you submit your comment. That is how we notify winners.

Unless another arrangement is made, prizes are to be picked up at the main Times Union building in Colonie during our business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) within a week of winning, or we will pick a new winner. In this case you are getting a gift card for the meals.

I do a stir fry using boneless pork or chicken – sliced thin, marinated and quickly sauted, fresh vegetables, and a bit of low sodium soy sauce. Serve it over rice (unfortunately my children won’t eat brown rice). The entire meal for 3 is usually less than $10, we get our veggies, and it’s tasty. I’ll mix the sauces to include oyster sauce, fish sauce, or hot chili peppers to change it up.

Good morning. My single best suggestion for preparing a healthy, low-cost meal for my family is to plan ahead! Making meal calendars, shopping for ingredients, having everything you need to make the meal helps meal time go much smoother.

My tip is to always have the “basics” in your pantry (pasta, rice, canned foods…etc)…and to stock up on these when they are on sale. It’s easy to whip up a quick and healthy meal by adding a few fresh items (chicken, cheese..etc) to the supplies you already have on hand!

Two words – Crock Pot. Fast since it doesn’t take very long to chop up some meat and veggies and toss it in the pot in the AM, and affordable since you can use fairly cheap ingredients (beans, potatoes, lower end cuts of meat) and things still come out tender and yummy. Plus, we usually have leftovers.

These look great! Honestly, my single best suggestion is to plan. When I plan out my meals for an entire week & do all of my grocery shopping in one trip, I save myself a lot of time & money. If I’m making chicken one night, I can make up an extra piece & have a grilled chicken salad for lunch the next day, or use it in a dish that calls for chicken already cooked. When I can, I will also prep my veggies the night before. When I’m planning ahead, I can also buy meat more in bulk at a better price & freeze it, and then I just take it out the night before & it’s ready for me when it comes time to cook. And of course, planning will allow me to use the leftovers in a different meal the next night without having nearly as much waste.

A baked fish with some stir fried green beans on the side. Just add a touch of low-sodium soy sauce to the green beans in a wok and heat on med-high until preferred done-ness. So quick and easy, green beans cook while the fish in in the oven.

It can be difficult doing the healthy low-cost meals, but what B & I do these days is grabbing a bag of the frozen chicken, frozen veggies (usually broccoli) and a starch (either pasta, rice or potatoes). We don’t have a microwave, so everything is on the stove/oven. The chicken takes the longest, but time goes by quickly. We throw it in with some pepper then do what we need to do when we get home from work. Right before the chicken is done we put the veggies on the stove. Depending on whether we’re having pasta or rice, that goes on about 15 minutes after the chicken is in.

Another really good chicken dish is my famous chicken mushroom. Easy and inexpensive. Chicken breasts (skinless & boneless), cream of mushroom soup (you can use the lowfat), rice. Just put everything in a shallow baking dish, and bake covered. We do an additional veggie too. It’s so yummy, and good left-over too.

I like to buy my meats in bulk and freeze any I don’t use that night or I make extra to use for a different dinner the next night. Like grilled chicken one night, then use leftovers to make chicken salads the next night.

This would be awesome since I just got over the stomach bug and haven’t eaten in 2 days and don’t have the energy to cook anything. :P

I put “snacking veggies” like baby carrots and snap peas out on the table while I’m still prepping the meal. My kids are hungry enough that they’ll eat them, so I don’t feel too bad if they turn up their noses at whatever vegetables I cook as part of dinner.

I love a pasta dish for dinner. One of my favorites is chicken sausage with broccoli rabe & pasta. Have a pot of boiling salted water on the stove & a bowl with iced water on the counter. Blanch the broccoli rabe for about 5 minutes. Use a strainer remove the broccoli rabe from the boiling water & put it into the iced water to stop the coooking & keep it green. Bring the water back to a boil & add your pasta & cook until almost done . Now, I take chicken sausage & slice it. Spray a non-stick fry pan with Pam. Cook the sausage until done. I add the broccoli rabe &
pasta along with a cup of chicken stock. Simmner until stock has reduced. I then add some red pepper flakes & season with salt & pepper to taste. Top with grated cheese & serve. You can use spinach or anyother green veggie you like. If you don’t like chicken sausage, use regular sausage. I use low sodium chicken stock or broth.

We try to make something big on Sunday – a crockpot soup or roasted chicken, that we know will last us a few days in leftovers. Then the first person home just needs to heat everything up. No mess and no take-out.

Keeping it simple. We use the grill year round. I will cook a few days worth of chicken breasts that were purchased on sale and frozen. I use them for salads, quesadillas, sandwiches, burritos and frittata.

A crockpot is great for a quick meal on a buget. I try to use low fat/low sodium ingredients in my crockpot meals to keep them healthier and I keep my freezer stocked with frozen veggies so I can add them to the meal.

best tip is planning ahead. if I take 15-30 minutes once a week to plan my meals, I won’t be left standing in front of the fridge digging around for something, not finding anything “good”, and then just ordering takeout.

Having an insanely crazy schedule has not boded well for my family to eat healthy meals. Take out has reigned supreme in our house for quite a while. Recently I have become extremely concerned about my children eating so much take out and found a great website at http://www.eatingwell.com where they have great quick recipes and menu planning tips and ideas. They also have several different diets (ie; high fiber, diabetic, gluten free, etc.) to choose from that include many different recipes/menus, which I have found to be very helpful. So far every recipe has been well received by my kids…looking forward to seeing other people’s suggestions as well.

I am single and live alone so it is even harder to cook for myself when the convenience of take out exists. However, I know it is much healthier and less expensive. My biggest tip is to use a crock-pot! You can cook so many different things in large amounts and freeze it in portions for later meals. Hardly any work, yet you have a fresh, hot meal out of it!

Best suggestion- plan ahead and make several meals over the weekend. But for fast, fresh meals when I haven’t planned, I either make an omelet with lots of fresh veggies and cheese in it or a salad with grilled chicken.

Use only fresh ingredients to prepare a healthy low cost meal. This way, you avoid overly processed, overly salted, overly seasoned, overly starchy recipies, and can enjoy fresh, whole, bold flavors and feel great when the meal is over!

Oh – I would love to win this!
My tip is to try to make meals that I can utilize again.
For instance, throw a pot roast in the crock pot. That is Sunday dinner.
Then you have leftovers. Use the leftover meat in tacos for Monday night. It is already seasoned and makes wonderful meat for the tacos. You have made use of the pot roast for 2 meals.

Another tip – if I am making a lasagna or ziti – I try to double it and freeze a batch so then I have it for another meal.

I try to grill or bake a bunch of boneless chicken breasts on Sunday night. All week long we can use the chicken in a variety of dishes. We make grilled chicken salad one night, stir fry another, and on Friday – bbq chicken pizza! Saves time and stocking the freezer when the chicken is on sale saves money too.

I plan out me meals on Saturday before going grocery shopping. I find if I am organized and have a planned menu then we are more likely to eat healthy. It’s when I am not prepared and putting together a last minute meal that we tend to eat unhealthy.

Plan ahead to be able to incorporate left overs into your next meal. If you roast a chicken, use the leftovers for chicken soup or chicken pot pie for tomorrow’s meal. Have a couple left over slices of pizza? Serve them with large salads. By planning a whole week’s worth of meals you can save a lot and still eat healthy.

To me, you can’t have healthy and fresh without fresh veggies and protien (meat or fish for us). Since that’s not always the cheapest option, my tip is to shop for the week based on what’s on sale. Go through the weekly ads, see what meat, fish, and veggies are on sale that week, then plan your menu around that.

I think it helps tremendously to always have a lot of different types of frozen veggies on hand. They are affordable, last a long time, and can be a side dish, added to soup or stew, or mixed into pasta and sauce.

My single best piece of advice is advance menu planning. By setting your weekly menu in advance, you can shop sales and not have to shop last minute. Also, the steam fresh veggies are great! They are a more budget friendly choice that will stay good in the freezer longer than fresh. Good luck!

My husband and I have started planning out 5 or 6 nights’ worth of dinners on the weekend. We’ll go over the supermarket flyers and buy what’s on sale. We also set a certain amount of money aside to use only for groceries; if we run out of that cash, that’s it. But since more planning is involved, we end up with some leftover cash at the end of the week. It’s really about discipline and sticking to your grocery list!

Using a crock pot allows me to turn a less tender (but less expensive) cut of meat into a delicious and healthy meal (think stew/hearty soup),because I can add fresh or frozen veggies (whatever is on sale) and control the sodium and fat levels, while still utilizing what is on sale that week.

I like to use beans as a cheap protein alternative and pair it with brown rice and steamed vegetables. The rice and vegetables can be microwaved for quick and easy prep and the beans can be soaked the night before.

My single best suggestion for preparing a healthy, low-cost meal is to use beans in place of meat. I make chili, tacos, pasta with white beans and spinach. The cost of beans v. meat really saves me money.

A quick meal for the family that we enjoy on a budget is grilled chicken with fresh steamed broccoli and egg noodles. I quickly dip the chicken breasts into skim milk and then breadcrumbs and pop them onto the grill while my noodles are boiling and my broccoli is steaming. 20 Minutes and done, for an affordable price!

Planning ahead has helped me save more time and money than any other strategy for healthy and budget-friendly cooking. Fresh organic vegetables and herbs can add up and spoil quickly if not used, so planning meals ahead to use up that produce over a few days ensures that you don’t waste them. I love to sautee shrimp (purchased frozen & cleaned) with seasonal vegetables, herbs, and a packet of Herb & Garlic salad dressing mix. I sautee extra veggies, which can be used the following day for a frittata, quiche, veg & rice bowl, etc.

I like to make more time-consuming dishes on the weekend that leverage into leftovers later on in the week. For example, if I make crock-pot chili on Sunday, on Tuesday I may make baked potatoes for dinner and top them with chili, or chili dogs. That helps keep the cost down, makes weeknight meals quicker, and adds some variety to regular old leftovers.

My favorite healthy, low budget meal that I make my family is a pasta dish with Al Fresca chicken sausages. I use the Roasted Red Pepper/Asiago Chicken Sausages and mix them with minced garlic, olive oil, brocolli florets and roasted red peppers. Then, I serve that over Whole Wheat Rotini. It’s inexpensive, healthy and really quick to prepare since the chicken sausages are pre-cooked.

A few minutes of easy prep in the morning can turn chicken (or other meat) and a few ingredients in a slow cooker into a main course that is ready when you get home from work. Add a steam-in-the-bag veggie, some quick cooking rice or pasta and we have a meal all 4 of us(including a picky 6 year old) will enjoy :-)

When it comes to chicken, buy it when on sale. If the package is too big for you to eat in one sitting, divide it into smaller portions enough to cover one meal. Place those pieces in ziplock bags, pour in some marinade to coat and freeze.

Do the same for veggies also. Place a variety of freshly cut veggies in ziplock bags (enough for one meal) and freeze. It is cheaper than buying already frozen veggies. Also, this way, you can pick and choose your favorite vegetables. When it comes time for dinner on a busy night, pull out a chicken bag and bake. Pull out a veggie back and steam and your done.

I plan my meals each weekend before I shop. This way I can take advantage of sales and also get some of the prep work done ahead of time. If chicken is on sale we might have a roasted chicken on Sunday and then use the leftovers for a pot pie later inthe week. I’m much less likely to turn to takeout if I have my meals planned out.

I try to prep things before hand. Even if I’m running late if I don’t have to be cutting veggies and stuff when I get home I’m more likely to make the good fresh meal and I save money by not buying the precut veggies.

Plan ahead and know what’s in your fridge/pantry. If you get home and are worn-down from a long work-day, it will be hard to figure out what to prepare for dinner and demoralizing if you don’t have a key ingredient available, which often leads to unhealthy short-cuts or an unplanned spending splurge on take-out.

I always make a list before i hit the market, you tend to buy more than you need when you dont. On a budget i buy the generic brand of frozen vegetables. I make my chicken for the week. When im exhausted from work im not as likely to get fast food knowing that all i have to do is cook my sides.

Planning is the key. If I know we have a crazy day coming up, I try to cook in advance and put in the fridge or have somethings prepared in the freezer that freezes well. It’s healthier and less expensive than take out. Crock pots are wonderful too. Add ingredients before work and dinner is done! Just add some fresh baby carrots or fruit for a complete meal.

I buy chicken breast in bulk from local butchers. It’s usually cheap — $1.99/lb or less — and I then bring it home, cut them into less Dolly Parton sized portions, vacuum seal them and I’m good to go for a good month or so!

I love to buy a rotisserie chicken & a bag of salad mix to make a great salad out of it. Slice up some of the chicken & place on top of greens – with a simple dressing on the greens it’s a good healthy, quick & inexpensive meal. You can jazz it up with some nuts (walnuts, pecans or sliced almonds), maybe some dried cranberries & a bit of feta or blue cheese for a change of pace. Yummy!! (Now I think I know what’s for dinner tonight!! lol!!)

Since I don’t cook, preparing a healthy, low-cost meal isn’t exactly my area of expertise. But I’d say one tip I’ve started using is switching to whole-grain pastas. Much healthier, just as tasty, and there aren’t many things lower in cost than pasta.

I think the best tip I can offer is to prepare for the week in advance. Take out the crockpot, make a batch of chili, divide it up (since I’m only cooking for myself, I can usually get 4-5 meals) and freeze. You can do this with other recipes obviously. If you have enough time on the weekend, you can chop veggies for snacks, put fruit or nuts in ziplocs, etc. That way you’re also saving time, by only making one trip to the grocery store for the week.

Once a week I grill chicken, dice it, then freeze or refrigerate it. Then throughout the week it can be used on salads, in wraps or in pasta dishes. It saves time by just doing it once and not having to worry about cooking meat several times a week, and lessens the tempatation for fast food.

My quick, easy and healthy family ‘go to’ recipe is: a crab cake from Hannaford’s on top of mixed greens with roasted red peppers, artichokes and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with balsamic dressing. Blend a piece of roasted red pepper with low fat mayo and red pepper flakes to serve on the side for dipping the crab cake too! Yummy and fast!

Tacos (not from a kit)
Half a pound of lean ground beef(or chicken), a can of black beans(the added beans allows for less meat), a package of whole wheat tortillas, seasoning (chili powder, or cumin, paprika and garlic), and whatever toppings you have around the house. Hopefully lettuce and another veggie.

When I know I will be pressed for time during the week, I will often make a large meal that I and my husband can then repeat as leftovers later in the week. A stew or chili can be made fairly inexpensively, and lasts for a few days.

My crockpot is the easiest way to make a healthy meal with little time. It cooks all day while you’re at work, with just a few minutes for the prep work.
It’s the best for pulled pork and shredded chicken (meat cooks all day and just needs to be pulled apart at the end and served). (low fat) beef stew or chili are also easy and healthy options. Meat and veggies all in one pot!

My best suggestion is planning! Every Sunday, I sit down with the Price Chopper flyer and make a dinner plan for the week based on the sales. Then I use the dinner plan to help create my grocery list. It’s much easier to make a quick, healthy meal if you know exactly what you are going to cook each day and you have all of the ingredients already.

When making dinner, double up the batch of what you are cooking. Put the leftovers in the freezer, so that when you come home without anything prepared, you can pull it out of the freezer and reheat it.

Our secret for eating healthy dinners is having several quick, tasty vegetable options on hand – carrots to saute in oil with spices, cauliflower to roast in the oven for 20 minutes or salad. That way, no matter how lazy we’re feeling, we know we can throw a vegetable together without resorting to canned stuff or bland frozen bags of veggies…or no vegetables at all. We don’t eat a starch or starchy veggie at dinner and try to keep the vegetable to protein ratio at 2:1.

My best recommendations: do lots of prep before you cook! When you get back from the grocery store, chop all your fresh veggies and store them in the fridge. Chop up a bunch of fruits/melons and store them in the fridge as well. It makes creating a meal from scratch utilizing healthy food FAST! You can keep it pretty affordable as well by purchasing in season fruits & veggies, or buying frozen!

This is such a great giveaway! The fastest most affordable meal I make during the week is stirfry. Chicken, Shrimp or steak, some brown rice and a bag of frozen stirfry veggies. 15-20 minutes and dinner is done!

My single best suggestion for preparing a healthy, low-cost meal for myself and mny family would be to once a week try to make a meatless meal. Meat can be very exspensive and it won’t kill you once or twice a week to have a meatless meal. Once in a while, my kids love to have pancakes for dinner. Very low cost and I serve it with some fruit.